French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, September 28, proposed giving more autonomy to the Mediterranean island of Corsica, a region that often chafes at rule from Paris.
Macron vowed to introduce legislation that would "fully anchor Corsica in the French Republic and recognize the uniqueness of its Mediterranean island nature and its relationship with the world." He set a deadline of six months for the island's politicians to reach an agreement with Paris on a new law that would change the French Constitution to amend Corsica's status. "There are no red lines, just the ideals of the Republic," Macron said.
"We should have the courage to establish a form of autonomy for Corsica within France," Macron told the island's parliament in Ajaccio, currently controlled by nationalists. He added: "We would all be failing if we left things as they are."
Corsica shot to the top of the French political agenda last year when widespread violence broke out over the killing in a mainland prison of Yvan Colonna. The independence fighter – jailed for life over the 1998 murder of the island's prefect Claude Erignac – was stabbed by another inmate.
Colona's killing triggered "unbelievable violence that brought Corsica to the brink of widespread conflict," Gilles Simeoni, the president of the executive council of Corsica, told Macron.
Corsicans have long wanted more say on their affairs, as well as official status for their language and protection from outsiders buying up land, two thorny requests that Paris is reluctant to grant. "Corsica must become the autonomous territory it ought to be," regional parliament speaker Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis told Macron ahead of his speech. The island's young people especially "feel hugely dispossessed," she said.